When Valheim launched on February 2, developer Iron Gate posted an Early Access roadmap to show what it expects to add to co-op Viking survival game in 2021.
Thing is, there's not a whole lot of detail on the roadmap, just some intriguing names for the updates, like Hearth and Home, Cult of the Wolf, Ships and the Sea, and a new biome called Mistlands.
But this week we managed to get a few extra details when we spoke to Henrik Törnqvist, co-founder of Iron Gate Studios, about what those updates will contain. We also talked a bit about some other new features, like mini-bosses, that might be added to Valheim in the future.
Here's what we know about Valheim's roadmap and what's coming up this year.
Update 1: Hearth and Home
The first update is called Hearth and Home, which "as the name suggests will focus on the house building aspect of the game, with more building pieces and stuff to do in and around the house," Törnqvist said.
"It will probably be pretty focused on the food preparation aspect of the game with more recipes and stuff like that," he continued. "But there are also new additional building pieces."
With all the amazing Viking homes being constructed, that's sure to be good news for Valheim's fort-builders. Personally, my house sucks and I'm more interested in having new recipes to cook, which also hopefully means new seeds and plants to farm. My carrot patch made me happy for a while, but I'm ready for more options.
Update 2: Cult of the Wolf
This is the most intriguingly named update, but Iron Gate unfortunately didn't give us a whole lot more to go on.
Cult of the Wolf, said Törnqvist, "will be an update that focuses on exploration and combat with hopefully some some new fun and different encounters for the players."
Since wolves frequent the Mountain biome, I'm guessing this update will focus on that area, but we still don't really know.
Update 3: Ships and the Sea
Ships and the Sea "will bring in some ship customization and try to flesh out the ocean biome a bit more," said Törnqvist. "Since it's not not as populated, I guess you could say, as the rest of the land biomes, so we want some more stuff to do out in the ocean."
Not a huge surprise based on the name, but more encounters in the sea would be welcome, and so would more ship customization. Particularly since the Viking longship originally appeared to be decorated with colorful shields, and that doesn't currently seem to be an option.
Update 4: Mistlands
Mistlands will add an entirely new biome to Valheim. "So it will be new enemies, new items, a new boss, new resources, everything, and that's what we have planned for this year. So yeah, that's quite quite a big task, but we will accept the challenge, so to speak," said Törnqvist.
Speaking of bosses, Törnqvist also confirmed that each new biome added to the game will contain its own boss. And if that's not enough, some new lesser bosses might make an appearance at some point, too.
"In the finished version of the game, there will be nine biomes with nine bosses. And then we're also exploring adding mini-bosses and stuff like that," he said. "So yeah, there will be more bosses coming."
I also asked how adding entirely new biomes would effect the procedurally generated worlds people are currently exploring and building in, and if those new biomes would overwrite sections of the world players may have already visited.
"We're currently discussing how we're gonna do that. From a technical standpoint. I can't really give you a clear answer right now," he said. It's worth noting that Valheim currently contains some undeveloped biomes like the Deep North and Ashlands, and some players have come across unfinished Mistlands areas, so potentially new biomes could be added without a major disruption to players's progress.
Dates for the roadmap updates haven't been announced yet either, as Iron Gate is currently focused on fixing bugs in the short term.
"The whole team is working on fixing all the bugs that come to light when you suddenly get a million people playing your game," said Törnqvist. "We're five people, by the way, so we have quite a lot to do. But yeah, as soon as we feel ready, we will begin working on the updates outlined in the roadmap."
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